Thai and Cambodia temple dispute spills over into deadly fighting

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Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged rockets and gunfire across their shared border yesterday in a deadly battle over a trifling cause: a small and remote plot of jungle adjoining an ancient Hindu temple.

At least two Cambodian soldiers were reported to have been killed and five Thais and two Cambodians were injured in the afternoon battle at the mountain-top Preah Vihear temple, a tourist attraction and World Heritage Site, which is 1,100 years old.

The Thai Foreign Minister urged his countrymen to flee Cambodia for fear of reprisals after an incident that will enrage nationalists further in both countries and